IRA Trusts – What happens when your IRA outlives you? Clients want to protect their IRAs and other qualified retirement plan assets for their families, but don’t really understand what happens to these assets after they die. Without proper planning, these assets can be exposed to beneficiaries’ creditors and other beneficiary associated risks. By using [...]

Revocable trusts and irrevocable trusts each do different things in estate planning. You have decided to move forward with an estate plan. You are interested in a trust, but what kind of trust is right for you?  You have a friend who tells you that “irrevocable trusts” are the way to go but the word [...]

Check out these important points about the 2013 Fiscal Cliff Deal. On January 2, 2013, President Obama signed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 into law, addressing lingering concerns about the expiring Bush era tax rates, estate and gift tax rates, and many other tax related concerns.  This bill impacts nearly every American citizen [...]

By Brian G. Quinn What does a Will do, what does a Trust do, and do you need both? Most people are unaware of the important distinctions. Here we clear up the confusion. Learn the difference between Wills versus Trusts and why they’re both important. Many estate planning clients start off our conversation by saying [...]

By Brian G. Quinn It’s November 2012. Are you doing your year end planning? Many of my clients are. Estate taxes is a topic that keeps coming up time and time again. Did you know that estate taxes are scheduled to go up drastically in 2013? Will Your Estate Taxes Increase? Here’s an example; If [...]

By Brian G. Quinn A Special Needs Trust is Required When a Simple Inheritance Can Do More Harm Than Good I recently had a client walk into my office who had just learned he was receiving a large inheritance from his father.  He was extremely worried and upset about this.  My client was disabled, and [...]

By Brian G. Quinn Think Estate Planning for Young Couples can be ignored? Guess again. I’m an estate planning attorney in my thirties. Many of my friends and family are getting married and having children. They often ignore the subject of estate planning, thinking that “Estate planning for young couples simply isn’t necessary.”  That’s a [...]

By Brian G. Quinn Creditors, predators and lawsuits – OH MY! Do you have the kind of protection that gives you peace of mind? Over the last two decades, asset protection planning has become a crucial aspect of most estate planning. The creative use of irrevocable trusts can be one of the most powerful tools [...]

By Brian G. Quinn Asset Protection 102 – The Missouri Qualified Spousal Trust What in the World is a QST – Qualified Spousal Trust? As a married man or woman, is protecting your wealth from creditors, predators, lawsuits and bankruptcy important to you? Is it also important to ensure that your wealth is available to [...]

By Brian G. Quinn Asset Protection 101 Is protection from creditors, predators, lawsuits and bankruptcy important to you?  This is a common question I will ask my clients as we identify their estate planning goals.  If their answer to my question is “yes”, we have a discussion about asset protection planning.  Asset protection planning has [...]